Dipped balloon



July 18, 1950 B. 1.. MORR ET AL DIPPED BALLOON Filed Oct. 12, 1949 J m NE W i B firm tw ym H Patented July 18, 1 950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DIPPED BALLOON' Bert L. Mini; chest-er A. Butts, ana s'agar Walter's, Ashlahd, Ohio, assignors tofAshl'and Rubber Products Corporation,'a'corporationof Application ontoberli z, 1949, Serial-No. 121,014

This invention relates to dipped ensue-wane inflatable objects, particularly toys having. generally rotund bodies and spaced supporting legs. Toys simulating animals are at the rhoment foremostin contemplation. j I

The conventional method is to provide .a contensions stand out divergently in anunli'felike manner.

One of they objects of thepresent invention is to provide a. dipped. balloon that inuninfiated state is angularly re-entrant along its opposite side and flat along the bottom, with the" leg extensions emanating from the, flat portion,.lthe

re-entrant angular portions providing fullness in the body above the flat bottom portion; "which becomes reversely bulged under incipient'i'rifiation to form a convex body without stretching so that under the-slight additional amount of inflation necessaryto give the balloon the degree of tension essential to sustain its shape, the flat bottom portion which isv proportionately the original width of the fiat portion is the chord, so that the ends of said are are not spread beyond their original distance apart, causing' the' leg extensionsto remain .substa'ntiaHynnspread and parallel.

Another object of the inventioniis the provision" of a balloon having the characteristics imparted by the form.

Other objects of the invention will appear as the following description of an illustrative embodiment thereof proceeds.

In the drawings which accompany the following specification, and throughout the figures of which the same reference characters have been used to denote identical parts:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a form or mold embodying the principles of the invention;

Figure 2 is a cross-section taken along the line 2-.-2 of Figure l Figure 3 is a diagrammatic cross-section showing the balloon in full lines in uninflated shape; in dash lines, distended by inflation but not stretched, and in dotted lines, inflated to normal shape sustaining tension.

Figure 4 is aside elevation of the balloon when inflated.

Referring now in detail to the figures, the numeral I represents a mold or form which has the form up' to the neckline 5.

1- Claim. '(01. 46-87) the profile of ;a, four legged animal, minus the head. .The head is made one separate form, with which the present invention is not .concerned.

,The form' I, comprises a longitudinal horizontal base 2, and a verticallongitudinal fin 3, which meets the base in a medial longitudinal plane.

The leg portions 4 extend substantially perpendicular from the lower face oftthe flat base;

spaced apart transversely. The form has tail and neck extensions, but these are r'nere'incidentsto'the particular object to be simulated;

Thef'orm is usedby dip'ping it in, or drawing it through a latex emulsion or other rubberelike liquid so that a film of the liquid collectson' That part'of the form above the neckline merely provides for its attachment to a conveyor and need not be furtherdescribed. The latex film deposited on the form is, after suitable coagulation, stripped from the form and becomes the body component of the. balloon which, associated with a head component from another form becomes, when suitably inflated, theanimal iishown in Figure 4. In this example the balloon .is inflated a through a hole in'the tail, closed by a plug '1'. stretched, assumes the shape of an arc, of which The fin 3 and base 4 of the form make reentrant, that is, concave dihedral angles a and b, extending substantially throughoutthe length of the .body of the form, there beingfillets in the apices' tofaci-litatestripping the elastic skin which constitutes. the-balloon, fromthe form.

' xFigure 3,,in 'fu'1llines, shows the 'CI'OSS'PSGCtiOIIEI shapeof .thBrbEl/llOOIl after having been stripped from the form, but prior to inflation, the shape of the 'form being retained. It will be noted that there is a vertical fold 8, corresponding to the fin 3, and opposite lateral folds 9 and It corresponding to the base 2 of the form, the lower limbs of the lateral folds forming a continuous flat bottom face II from which the leg portions extend, laterally spaced apart and substantially parallel to each other.

The lines o w and x 1/ represent planes that touch the end of the vertical fold 8 and the ends of the respective lateral folds 9 and Ill. The first stage of inflation is to fill the balloon to a point just short of stretching it. This causes the sides of the folds 8 and 9 which form the re-entrant dihedral angles a and b to reverse their position with respect to the said planes and to stand out on the opposite sides of said planes in a convex manner, as shown in the dash lines in Figure 3. This degree of inflation has degree than is required to make them sustain their shape.

Under tensioning pressure from within, the

cross-section of the body becomes circular, as

shown in dot and dash lines in Figure 3,'since the pressure of the gas is equal in all directions and the envelope is uniformly elastic. The convexed dihedrals round out into a continuous circular curvature defining the sides and back of the animal. The flat under face it also rounds out into an arc-of the same curvature as the sides of the body, the original width of the flat under face I I being a chord of that are. Since' the length of an arc is greater than its chord, the amount of stretching that the chord undergoes in becoming the arc is taken 'up in the are without the points I3 and M at the ends of the chord moving laterally. The points I3 and I4 represent the outer points of juncture of the leg portions with the flat face ll.

Likewise, with respect to the points and I6, which represent the inner points of juncture of the leg portions with the flat face ll, the part I! 'of said flat face which lies between these points stretches to become the are 18 without causing lateral displacement of the points, [5

and I6. Therefore, the relative positions of the leg portions remain substantially constant as the chord changes to the arc, and they remain substantially parallel and substantially thesame' a great extent the forces engendered by the unequal lengths of the inner and outer sides of the leg portions. 7 r a In the case of a-convex form with leg extensions, after the first step of inflating to the-point just short of tension has been accomplished, the

entire circumference is already. arcuate, so. that the second step of stretching to the point of producing tension, stretches the circumference including the are between the leg portions, spreading the leg portions divergently. In the present invention, the corresponding first step results in giving the sides and back a convex contour, but the under face II to which the leg portions are jointed, remainsflat. The second step, therefore, does not change the distance between the leg portions, but stretches the chord between said legs into an arc of equal transverse amplitude.

The result in the properly inflated balloon is a more lifelike appearance, since the legs are spaced apart a definite distance determined by not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention.

What we claim as our invention is: Dipped balloon comprising an inflatable elongated bag simulating a four-legged animal, which in its uninflated repose state has a longitudinal upright fold and opposite lateral folds, said upright fold making reentrant dihedral angles with the respective upper sides of said lateral folds, the lower sides of said lateral folds lying in a common plane substantially perpendicular to said upright fold forming a flat base, and parallel leg extensions emanating from said base.

BERT L. MORR.

CHESTER A. BUTTS.

EDGAR I-I. WALTERS.

7 REFERENCES CITED .The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

Habib et al. Feb. 8, 1949 

